Photograph
by WriterlyInqueling
Summary: Inspired by Ed Sheeren's song, "Photograph". This is a one-shot and a bit of a tearjerker... Contains Sophie's 16th birthday, a whole lot of discovery and sadness, and cake. Oh, and presents. Cake and presents.


**A/N: I know I should be posting the next chapter in my other story, but- Well, I heard this song and- and the writer in me just took over! It does this. It is very scary. Especially when the writer and the fangirl join forces. Never stand in their way. So I didn't and went along with them and made this! *confetti***

 **Enjoy!**

Jack leaned against the memorial, wrapped up in his thoughts. After he'd discovered his memories, he'd tried hunting down anything he could about his sister, but with the new responsibilities of being a Guardian, spreading winter, and finally having believers, the only thing he had found was the Grave.

He had had a breakdown when he found the Grave. He had felt like his sacrifice had been for nothing, she had died anyways. The Guardians had gone hunting for their young guardian when he hadn't shown up for the meeting that day. He had been such a mess. He didn't remember another time when he had been more scared, more hurt, more broken.

Jack felt the Wind tug at him, but he was too wrapped up in the memory.

The Guardians had found him in the graveyard, curled in on himself, crying in the middle of a snowstorm.

He remembered North had picked him up, asking him what was wrong.

Jack had only cried more, "She's gone. Gone. I did nothing. She still died."

They had had no idea what to do, Jack had never told them anything about his past. He had had a hard time opening up the Guardians, afraid they might still leave him.

He remember Tooth's hands stroking his hair as she whispered soothing words. Then Bunny's strained voice, "North? You may want to see this."

Apparently, Jack had been so heartbroken when he saw his sister's grave, he hadn't noticed his own right next to hers.

It had taken a few hours, but they had calmed Jack enough that he was able to tell them about his past. He hadn't cared about what they would think, he was just trying to get his sister's grave out of his thoughts.

Wind pulled harder at Jack, but he was lost in the memory of how quiet the Guardians had been. They had enveloped him in a comforting hug. North had told him that he was an amazing brother. That his sister had lived a long happy life because of him.

Tooth had stroked his hair and said that it was hard to lose someone that you love, _she_ had lost her own family too, but that she carried on to honor their memory.

He remembered how they had stayed with him that night, making sure he was okay.

Now, Jack would never admit that he had sobbed out his story to them, but he had to admit that afterwards they had become more like a family.

He _had_ made them promise to never tell anyone else though, even when the other seasons had ganged up on him. He smiled, it felt nice to have people worry about you, but so annoyingly infuriating.

Wind was through with being ignored. She practically whacked Jack upside the head.

"Ow! What was that for?" Jack rubbed his head and looked around, noticing how late it was getting.

"Oh, dang, Sophie is going to kill me for being late."

Jack flew as fast as he could to the Bennett's house.

After the Nightmare War, as North had so cleverly named it, the Bennett kids had become something like younger siblings to Jack. They had invited their friend to everything, birthday parties, Easter, Christmas, a camping trip (Mrs. Bennett never did figure out who ate all the marshmallows).

Jack barely missed running into a billboard, stupid advertisments. It was Sophie's 16th birthday and she had invited all the Guardians. "I mean like, Mom has never noticed one invisible guest." She explained, "No way she's gonna notice _five_."

Jack couldn't believe how fast the Bennett kids, all the Burgess kids for that matter, had gotten older. Now, Sophie was the only one who was younger than him. Physically, that is. If you added the other 312 years, Jack was definitely the oldest.

"There he is!" Jamie pointed at the streak of blue coming over the horizon. Sophie crossed her arms, "'Bout time."

Jack landed, Sophie made a beeline straight towards him, glowering.

Jack winced, "Sorry, Soph, lost track of time."

Sophie whacked him upside the head, and Jack rubbed his head, "Ow, now I'm gonna have _two_ bumps."

The other Guardians noticed Jack's entrance, "'Bout time you got here, Frostbite."

Jack smirked, "Just bein' fashionably late."

Tooth fluttered over nervously, "You okay, Jack?"

Jack just sighed, "Just... memories, ya know?"

Tooth nodded, then flew back a bit as Jamie came bounding over.

Jamie was taller than Jack now, but still acted like a kid whenever he could.

"Jack! Where've you been? I thought for sure Soph was gonna kill you."

Jack shrugged, "I forgot her present and had to go back and get it."

The Guardians frowned, Jack was such a casual liar that it still took a lot of concentration to make sure he was telling the truth.

Jamie laughed, "Oh yeah, that would've been great. Showing up without a present, 'specially since she's been planning this since, I dunno, last year?"

Jack rolled his eyes, "I think since she turned 13 actually. Besides, 16 isn't such a great year, 17 is _so_ much better." Jack smiled smugly.

Jamie tried to hold back a laugh, "Stop it, my mom already thinks I'm crazy enough as it is, what with me going for a degree in cryptozoology. She doesn't need to see me laughing like a maniac at nothing."

Jack raised an eyebrow, "Oh, I'm nothing now?"

Jamie winced, "You know what I meant."

Jack sighed, it was hard trying to spend time with his friend without making him look like a lunatic to the rest of the world. Growing older really stank sometimes.

Speaking of which... Sophie was putting the candles on her cake.

Jack smiled, cake...

()()()

After three slices, Jack decided he had had enough cake. He had been going for a fourth, but Sophie shot a look at him then at her mom who was eyeing the cake suspiciously and counting pieces. Oops.

Sophie waltzed over to her mom and distracted her, "Time to open presents?"

Mrs. Bennett nodded, frowning at the cake, "Sweetie, how many pieces of cake-"

Sophie tugged at her mom's sleeve, "Mom, come on, I bet each boy has eaten like 5 pieces."

Mrs. Bennett nodded again, "You're right..." Jack held back a snicker when he heard her mutter, "Just like those marshmallows..."

"Present time!" Gee, Soph's voice could carry.

Sophie sat down, trying to decide which one to open first.

Jack rolled his eyes, two journals, a book, a set of paints... _boring_.

Mrs. Bennett frowned when she passed the next one, "This one doesn't have a name on it."

Jack perked up, he'd taken the name off of his present due to last year's fiasco ("Jack? Who's Jack? Is he your boyfriend?").

He frowned, nope, this one was green with flowers.

Sophie smiled, "That's okay, Mom. I think I know who's this one is." She winked at Bunny.

Bunny smiled smugly, "I nailed this present."

"Ooo ooo, lemme guess." Jack scrunched up his face, "Something to do with eggs."

"Chocolate eggs!" Sophie popped one immediately in her mouth.

Jack smiled smugly, "Nailed it."

Tooth winced, "Bunny! I _knew_ I should've gone with the toothpaste!"

At least Sophie smiled nicely at the tooth necklace... ("They're replicas of your baby teeth!")

()()()

After opening up a snowglobe that showed breathtaking images of each of the Guardians homes, a pair of earrings made of seashells, and a boxful of snowflakes that would never melt, Sophie got up to thank her guests.

"Wait, Soph, there's one more!" Jamie held up a smallish box taped to a larger one.

"This one's from me and Mom."

Sophie opened it up and gasped, "Mom, your necklace!"

Mrs. Bennett put something around Sophie's neck, "Not mine, this has been passed down so many times that I don't know how many greats there are between me and the girl who first owned this."

Jack leaned in to get a closer look, why did Jamie have to be taller than him? It was so not fair.

Jamie held up the other box, "It took a whole lot of looking, but these are all the previous pictures that have been in that locket." He gave an odd look to Jack, then turned back to Sophie, "I put one of the pictures inside the locket too."

Sophie hugged them both, "Thanks you guys."

Jack got his first good look at the golden locket that hung around Sophie's neck when she stood up to say thank you.

Jack gasped. He knew that locket.

"Soph." He stumbled close to her, "Can- Can I see that locket?"

Soph furrowed her eyebrows, then looked to see where her mother was. Saying goodbye to her friend, that could take hours, "Umm... sure, but be careful with it."

She took it off and put it in Jack's hands.

Jack turned it over in his hands. It still looked the same, even after all these years. Sure there were a few more nicks and scratches, but it was still gold with gold leaves and vines wrapped around it.

It still had the slight bump from when he had tried to cram in a rock that he had wanted to surprise his mother with, (Boy, was she surprised...).

Sophie stared at Jack, he had gone oddly silent, "Jack, are you okay?"

Jack blinked back tears, "I- I-"

Sophie tried guiding him to a chair, "You look like you're gonna fall over any second, sit down."

Jack sat, but he didn't let his gaze leave the locket.

"Jack, what's going on?" Sophie tried using her mom's "counseling" voice.

Jack opened his mouth, then closed it. He had no idea what to say.

Tooth flew over when she saw Jack sitting quietly, something was _definitely_ not alright.

"Jack? Are you okay?"

The locket blurred as more tears formed. He ran his finger up and down the bump.

 _Jack, why is there a rock in my locket?_

 _Is for you, Momma!_

 _Did you know you put a dent in it?_

 _The rock didn't wanna go in._

 _This locket is very old, Jack. You also scratched the picture your father gave me!_

 _But the rock was pretty, like you!_

 _Jack- You- I- Augh! Come here you little flatterer._

Jack swallowed, his throat was burning. He popped the locket open and the tears ran down his face.

Sophie and Tooth looked down at the locket.

It was a portrait of an older boy and a younger girl. Both of them weren't paying attention to whoever did the painting. The girl was sitting in the older boy's lap, her arms thrown around his neck, her head resting on his shoulder. The boy was laughing, holding the girl gently. He was stroking her hair, his head leaning against hers. They were both hugging each other like there was nothing else in the world.

Sophie recognized the boy right away, "Is that you?"

Jack nodded, not trusting his voice to speak without cracking.

Tooth realized who the girl must be, "Is that her?"

Jack nodded again.

"Oh, Jack." Tooth put a hand on Jack's shoulder.

Sophie was confused, but tried to keep quiet. Obviously that girl in the photo meant something to Jack.

"Wait..." Sophie frowned, Jamie's words running through her head, _I put one of the pictures inside the locket_.

"Jamie Bennett! Get over here right now!" Mrs. Bennett looked up briefly, but could only see her angry daughter's face. She rolled her eyes, apparently age didn't stop sibling squabbles.

Jamie ran over, "What do you nee- Oh." He blinked, he didn't think he'd ever seen Jack cry.

"Explain." Sophie crossed her arms.

"I- I found the picture in that box," Jamie stuttered. He picked up the box and opened it, rummaging through.

"I thought that- that," he glanced over at his friend, "I thought that you'd want to see it. I'm sorry, Jack. I didn't mean, umm..."

Jack looked up, tearing his eyes away from the picture somehow, "Hmm?" He noticed Jamie staring at him and furiously wiped at the tears on his face.

Sophie sat down next to Jack, "Jack," she bit her lip, "Who's that?"

Jack swallowed, hoping his voice wouldn't give out, "That-" more tears spilled out, "That's my sister."

Sophie felt her heart quicken, "You have a sister?"

Jamie winced, making a _stop_ signal with his hands.

" _Had_ a sister," Jack whispered.

Sophie threw her arms around Jack, "Oh, Jack, I'm so sorry." Jack leaned on her shoulder, she was oddly comforting.

"Found it!" Jamie held an old scrapbook up, marking a page with his finger.

Jamie hesistated when he came to Jack, "Umm... uh," He held the scrapbook up, "This is the card that was with the picture. I thought, maybe, you'd like to read it."

Jack looked up and nodded, he'd been wanting to find out more about his sister, but who knew it would hurt this much?

Jamie gave him the scrapbook:

 _Momma gave me the locket for my 16_ _th_ _birthday. She said that Poppa had given it to her when he went off to war, telling her to wait for him to come home. It's a sad story, Poppa never came home. Momma felt like it was time for me to have it. I thought awhile about what picture I wanted in it. My friends told me to put a picture of Will in there since he's courting me, but I don't know. I feel like there's only one person who belongs right next to my heart, someone who's always been deep within my soul. This is a picture of me and Jack. Momma drew it, and it's my favorite. When I look at it, it's like my heart was never broken, like time is forever frozen in that moment, like Jack was never gone. I miss him so much still, but everytime I look at this picture, it doesn't hurt as much. One day, I'll give this locket to my daughter on her 16_ _th_ _birthday. I'll show her the picture of Poppa and the picture of me and Jack, they're sad stories, neither of them came back home. I'll tell her to put in this locket a moment of love forever frozen in time, that so long as it's with her, she'll never be alone. Jack, you live on in my heart. I love you._

Jack cried. He cried hard. It wasn't a broken cry like when he had found his sister's grave. It was a cry like when you find something very dear to you that you thought you had lost. The cry when you know someone loves you when you thought you were alone. A sad cry, but one full of love.

Tooth and Sophie held Jack in a comforting hug. Not speaking, they knew no words were needed. Just letting Jack know he wasn't alone in this.

Jamie and the other Guardians gave Jack some space. The other guests were oblivious to their fellow invisible guests, except for the Burgess kids (i.e. Pippa, Monty, Claude, etc.) who also decided it was best to give them some space.

Jack sat there, reading the piece of paper over and over again, holding the locket close to him.

"Sophie!" Sophie jumped, Mrs. Bennett had wrapped up her goodbyes with her friend, and was looking for her daughter.

Sophie signaled to Jamie, _Distract her_.

"Umm... I think she went inside." Jamie stood in front of his mom, blocking her view of Sophie.

Mrs. Bennett nodded and went inside. Jamie gave a sigh of relief, then jumped when a hand came down on his shoulder.

He turned quickly, his heart flying into his throat, only to see Sophie. The other Guardians had decided that Jack needed his new family nearby and had all come to comfort him. Jack had given the locket back to Sophie, but Sophie had given him the picture inside and the card, "They're yours, Jack. Keep them." Jack had smiled gratefully and Sophie had given him one last hug. Then she had gotten up to go knock her brother in the head.

"Dang, Sophie! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

Sophie pursed her lips and crossed her arms.

Jamie winced, "I didn't know he'd react like-"

Sophie whacked him on the arm, "You show him a picture of his dead sister, and you expect him _not_ to react like that?!"

"But- but Sophie!" Jamie held his arms out, "Do you know what this means?"

"That you're an insensitive jerk?"

"It means that Jack is related to us!"

Sophie paused, "Okay, so that is pretty cool."

Jamie nodded, excitedly, "Yeah!"

"But you're still an insensitive jerk."

Jamie frowned, "If I, you know, was gone, wouldn't you want something to remember me by?"

Sophie nudged him, "Fine, a _sensitive_ jerk then."

Jamie hugged her, and both were surprised by the sudden flash in front of them.

Mrs. Bennett was smiling with a camera in her hands, tears shining in her eyes, "You guys are getting so big, it's nice to see you still acting like the little sister and big brother that you are. Don't ever let anything change that."

Sophie and Jamie looked at each other and laughed. "I don't think that'll ever be a problem, Mom," Jamie ruffled Sophie's hair.

Sophie shoved his arm, "Unless he keeps being a jerk."

Mrs. Bennett rolled her eyes, "Of course, I could do without the arguing."

Jamie snorted, "How else am I supposed to show my brotherly affection?"

Mrs. Bennett looked down at the camera picture, "Hmm..."

Sophie tried looking over her shoulder, "What?"

Mrs. Bennett shook her head, "It's nothing. It's just, this picture reminds me of the one Jamie put in that locket." She held up the camera for them to see the picture.

Sophie's head was resting on Jamie's shoulder and Jamie had his arms wrapped around her. Sophie was laughing and Jamie was smiling. The golden locket was hanging out of Sophie's hand, which was pressed close to her heart. They were both hugging each other like there was nothing else in the world.

Sophie bit her lip, "Can- can you get me that picture... locket-sized?"

Mrs. Bennett gave Sophie a hug, "I think I can manage that."

Jamie smiled, "It's a great picture, Soph."

Mrs. Bennett smiled at her children, using that amazing (and somewhat creepy) mother sense to know that they needed some time to themselves, "I'm going to go put the cake away." She frowned, then yelled, "If Monty hasn't eaten it all by now!" She stormed over to the surprised Monty with a bite of his 6th piece of cake in his mouth.

Sophie put the golden locket in the pocket of her ripped jeans, then looked up and bit her lip, "Jamie, don't ever leave me. I don't ever want this picture to be a sad story."

Jamie glanced over at Jack. Jack was surrounded by the Guardians who were giving him one of the oddest group hugs Jamie had ever seen. But Jack looked so happy, smiling at the picture even though some tears were still on his cheeks.

He looked at Sophie, "I- I wish I could promise you that, Soph, but..." He sighed, "Life is so full of twists and turns."

Sophie nodded, looking down, "I guess." She blinked back some tears.

Jamie tilted her head up till they were eye to eye, "But, I promise that no matter how far I go, I'll always be with you. You won't ever be alone."

Sophie hugged Jamie, tightly, "No matter how much you annoy me, I'll always be waiting for you to come home."

Jamie felt a lump in his throat then hugged his sister back, "I love you, Soph."

"I love you too, Jamie." Suddenly she shoved him, "But next time, let me do the sensitive stuff."

Jamie laughed, "Okay, okay." He smiled, "Do _you_ want to tell Jack we're related?"

"You bet!" Sophie grabbed Jamie's hand.

"Wait!" Jamie grabbed the scrapbook.

Then they both ran over to Jack to give him more pieces of his sister, more memories, more moments forever frozen time. They went to go give Jack a piece of his heart back.


End file.
